Somalia

Since 1991 Somalia has become the paradigm of the state collapse. More recently interest in state weakness has increased in a relevant manner: state failure has become one of the most important security threats in Sub-Saharian Africa. After September 11 mainstream interpretations began to assess the impact of state collapse on the global stability, but very few analyses recognise that the international capitalist system has generated, amplified, and intensified state fragility. This book provides an alternative way to conceptualize state instability: it analyzes the Somali case in a global perspective. The Quasi-state theory, elaborated by Jackson, is adopted by this book in order to investigate the sovereignty evolution between the Westphalian and the post-colonial state. The case-study of the Ogaden war should help to explain to what extent the international system has determined the collapse of the Somali state. This book is oriented towards all those who want to know the trajectory of the Somali state or are interested in exploring questions that originate from the sovereignty crisis in contemporary era.